Advantages of Mortality
by Amy Fortuna
Summary: Elladan and Elrohir decide their final fate together.


Title: Advantages Of Mortality  
Author: Amy Fortuna (with help from her Methos Muse)  
Fandom: Lord of the Rings, Elladan/Elrohir  
Rating: Mild R  
Warnings: This is a death story that contains strong implications of slash twincest. Now that I've scared everyone away....  
Summary: The final fate of Elladan and Elrohir.

Notes: This takes place about a hundred and fifty years after the War of the Ring, in Rivendell. The Methos Muse gets lots of credit for practically making me do this-- it's also his fault this story is what it is (what do you expect from a guy who was Death, anyway?) Written to the Braveheart soundtrack, for mood.

Vocab lesson: Meldo means friend or lover, Fea, Fear (noun) refers to the Elvish spirit or soul.

****

The two white candles were the only lights left in the room, aside from the faint starlight coming in through the window. There was complete silence between the two Elves, who were not only brothers, but also twins, and beyond that lovers. Their eyes told a world of love and devotion between them, to each other, to the mortal people that they had fought for and defended thousands of years, and to the family that they were going to abandon to seek the starlight on a different sea than that which shone on Varda's realm. 

Elladan was the first to break the silence, speaking because the words needed to be said. "Is this the only way?" he whispered, shattering the quiet spell that lay upon the room. 

"I know of no other," Elrohir answered. "But this is the way we must take."

"The summons will go unanswered, then...?" Elladan's voice trailed off.

"They will know what we have done," Elrohir said, laying a hand lightly over his brother's. "Indeed I think our father long suspected it, before he left for the Sea, and that is why he did not press us to go with him."

Some days before, the elven kindred still living in Middle-earth had been warned of Cirdan's sailing oversea. All Elves who wished to sail would be gathering at the Havens. It would be the last of last chances for Elves to seek the fading Western shores. Their other doom could only be to stay in Middle-earth, dwindle, fade and vanish -- except for the Sons of Elrond, who were Half-Elven. To them only among the Elf-kin in Middle-earth would be given the choice to become mortal, to end their lives voluntarily and to pass beyond the stars, there to live on forever. 

Elladan had been the first to broach the idea that they could die as mortals did. He was also the one who shrank from the thought, but neither wished to end with Arda, or fade into forgotten time. This way their memory would be ever-present on the earth, and they could ever live on among the stars. 

Elrohir, ever the bold one, had seized upon the idea, laughing in the face of the danger of death. To him, death was a mere gate to be passed through, if his brother was with him. 

They had soon discovered that the thing they each feared most was not death or fading, but being without each other. And only through the way of death could they be together forever, beyond time, beyond Arda itself. 

"Eternity waits for us, brother," Elrohir whispered, leaning in close to his brother. "Why do we stare at the stars, when we could be dancing among them?"

Elladan shook his head. "The stars are beautiful." He turned to look at Elrohir. "You are beautiful." He reached out a finger, sliding it along his brother's beloved face. "I am afraid, my _meldo_." 

Elrohir's eyes went very soft. "You were always the one I protected. Would I lead you astray in this?" His hands almost instinctively found his brother's hair, and fingers twined into the dark curls, gently caressing. "I love you. I want to be with you forever."

"I know," Elladan whispered, and leaned in, kissing his brother quickly on the mouth before pulling away. "Make love to me before we go together into eternity. One last time."

"Yes," Elrohir said, and embraced his brother. "I love you, always loved you, since before time began, and I will love you until there are no more stars to shine, no more worlds to dance about, no more time to love, and then I will love you after that, forever."

Their clothing was light and swiftly done away with; they cast it aside, remembering all the thousands of times they had done this together, from the sweet delight of their first loving to the times they had held each other in the wilderness, to the time that Elrohir had nearly died in an orc attack and Elladan had brought him back to health, alone in the Wild. Their lovemaking was like a dance that they each had repeated a million times but nevertheless danced each time with new fervor. 

The stars were old in the night sky when they lay satisfied together at last, smiling, in each other's arms, the candles burning low, the gentle night breeze moving soft against naked skin. 

"Are you ready at last?" Elrohir said, lips moving against his brother's skin. 

"Yes," Elladan answered, and sighed, not a sigh of sadness or grief, but of sweet resignation and anticipation. 

They locked hands, preparing their minds for the sudden sundering of body from soul, holding tight to each other. All Elves know how to will themselves to die, but these two would be more than merely paring _fear_ from body, they would be pleading before Mandos to go beyond the Circles of the World, if Eru Illuvatar did not directly intervene in their case. 

"Think you that we too shall sing before Mandos?" Elladan asked. Elrohir laughed. 

"I think we shall be gracing the portals of the skies ere the dawn comes," he said. "We shall see our Estel again, and Arwen too."

"And Luthien, we shall even see her," Elladan said. He tightened his hold on his brother's hand and drew a fraction of an inch closer to his brother.

Their eyes met, the world became still and silent for a moment, time stretched out....

And snapped. The night wind rushed through the open window, swirling through. The candles guttered and went out.

"I had not dreamed the sky would be so perfect," Elladan's voice was the last thing that could be heard by an Elvish ear, if any had been listening. 

The curtains fluttered out into the night, and Middle-earth faded beneath the feet of the star-seeking brothers, hand in hand for all eternity.

END


End file.
